Ground zero, carbon zero, and Coke Zero — what is the connection?

The year 2000 was once symbolic of “the future” — the world of tomorrow filled with utopian possibilities for art and technology. Entering the millennium, something is awry in the spirit of tomorrow, for there exists a strange pattern of ‘zeros’ in culture and technology, all related to the space-time coordinates of the future. Ground zero, carbon zero, Coke Zero. What do these zeros suggest? Void or emptiness, end or beginning, the past or the future for utopia? It is ground zero for theory. (100p)

Barry Vacker teaches media, cultural, and utopian theory at Temple University, Philadelphia. The author of many articles and book chapters, his recent publications include the text for Peter Granser's photography book Signs (Hatje Cantz 2008). Vacker's recent work with experimental media includes the first three volumes of the "Theory Zero" book series (Zero Conditions, Crashing Into the Vanishing Points, and Starry Skies Moving Away), as well as the documentary film Space Times Square (2007), which he wrote and directed. barryvacker.net

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